ADDRESS, 

ROBERT EMORY, A. M 



DICKINSON COLLEGE. 



ADDRESS 



DELIVERED AT THE 



ANNUAL COMMENCEMENT 



DICKINSON COLLEGE, 

July 16, 1835, 

/ 
BY ROBERT EMORY, A. M. 

PROFESgOK OF LANeUAGES. 
PUBLISHED BY RESOLUTION OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES. 



^^ 



PRINTED BY JOHN W. A\OODS 
1, Light street, Baltimore. 



I, Lii^t street, Ba 



ADDRESS. 



The spirit of inquiry, which has prevailed in reference to Ed- 
ucation, has already elicited such copious information on the 
subject, that some may be disposed to regard any further dis- 
cussion of it as useless. Were the productions of the pen 
and of speech designed only to instruct, there might be some 
ground for the opinion. Could we content ourselves to treat 
subjects of vital public importance like the mock discus- 
sions of the schools, in which the object is to see how much 
can be said upon a question, we might admit that if all has not 
been said on the subject of education that was possible, at 
least there has been enough for the formation of our opinions, 
and the direction of our practice. But who does not know that 
after the public mind has been fully enlightened upon a topic, 
there still remains the more difficult, and not less important, 
duty, of moving it to action. 

The thrilling appeals which so often emanate from the sacred 
desk, are called forth not so much by the ignorance, as by the 
apathy of the people. Week after week, we repair to the 
house of God, and hear from the same lips the same holy prin- 
ciples — principles which have perhaps been familiar to us from 
childhood; — yet we think not the service tedious or unnecessa- 
ry, because we are conscious that as yet the appropriate effect 
upon our life and conduct has not been produced. 

It is for the same reason that we think that the subject of 
education cannot be too often presented for our consideration. 
Although much light has been thrown upon it, by the zeal and 
learning of those who have treated it, still their labors have 
not yet produced those practical results which constituted their 
only object. Parents still allow their children to be educated 
upon erroneous systems; — public seminaries still send forth 



pupils unqualified for the duties of private or of public life; — 
youth continue, for the most part, blind to their best interests, 
and are pressing their way, with indiscreet haste, to stations for 
which they are utterly incompetent. It is useless to dis- 
cuss the best modes of teaching, or the best systems of 
discipline, while we have such abundant and conclusive evi- 
dence that, as yet, the very object itself of education is by 
many but little understood. Let us, then, devote a few mo- 
ments to this inquiry: — What is the proper aim of education? 
It is an important inquiry. It intimately concerns all the rela- 
tions of society;-^-the public, in their expenditures for the en- 
couragement of learning; — the parent, in selecting the in- 
structor of his child; — the teacher, in adopting his course of in- 
struction; — the youth, in proposing to himself the proper object 
of his early efforts, and of his generous hopes; — all, all, are in- 
terested to be correctly informed upon a point in which error 
may lead to irreparable — to fatal consequences. 

On such a question, I would not presume, before such an au- 
dience, to obtrude my own crude conceptions, unsupported, as 
they must be, by any length of experience. But though I 
may advance no new sentiments, and though I may defend 
those which have been heretofore advanced, by no new argu- 
ments, still, I trust, that I shall secure the more humble, though 
not less useful end, of presenting to you the matured opinions 
of the wise and good, in such a light, that, while they cannot 
fail to meet the approbation of your judgment, they may obtain 
the active concurrence of your practice. 

Thai education in itself is desirable, I shall not consume 
your time in attempting to prove. The superiority of intel- 
ligent over ignorant man; — of him, who, in point of men- 
tal culture, has been almost fitted for the society of superior 
spirits, over him who is removed from the brute only by the 
possession, not by the exercise, of different faculties, is a sub- 
ject which no longer admits of discussion. No! the question 
is not whether education is useful, but what kind of education 
is most useful. We conceive that in this case, as in every 
other which affects the interests of man, the proper criterion of 



the utility of any object, is, its tendency to promote his hap- 
piness. What then is the system of education, that can best abide 
this test? Is it that which trains the youthful mind to habits of 
shrewd calculation, and sagacious planning for the accumula- 
tion of wealth? A Croesus, in the midst of his countless trea- 
sures, could not extort from the Athenian sage an acknow- 
ledgement of his happiness. Is it that which sows the seeds of 
restless ambition, and creates an insatiable thirst of power? 
From 'Macedonia's madman' to the Corsican, the most success- 
ful aspirants have been as miserable, as their most unfortunate 
competitors. Is it that which stores the mind with a mass of 
learning, undigested and unsuited to any practical purpose? The 
wise man of Israel has assured us, that he that thus increaseth 
knowledge, but increaseth sorrow. Is it that which exclusive- 
ly fosters some already predominant faculty, adding the influ- 
ence of art to that of nature, to stimulate it to an unnatural 
growth? The fate of genius, in all ages, when unsupported by 
judgment, has become a proverb of misfortune. No! — neither 
distorted genius, nor barren learning, nor unlimited power, nor 
boundless wealth, are sources of real happiness, and therefore, 
neither the cultivation of the first, nor the acquisition of the 
others, is the proper leading object to be proposed in a course of 
instruction. What then is? It is the cultivation, in just and 
harmonious proportion, of all the powers and faculties of man. 
This alone can impart a complete and generous education: that 
which, to use the language of Milton, 'fits a man to perform 
justly, skilfully, and magnanimously, all the offices, both private 
and public, of peace and war.' 

Suchadefinition,it is obvious, must include the cultivation, not 
only of the intellectual, but also of the physical and moral pow- 
ers. And would that my limits permitted, or that my abilities 
enabled me, to brand, with an appropriate stigma, the criminal 
neglect with which these have been treated. — To depict in living 
colors the cruel folly of those, who, whether from misguided 
fondness, or blind devotion to fashion, bring up their children 
with feeble and sickly frames, to be the prey of lingering dis- 
ease, or the victims of untimely death: — or to denounce, with 



becoming indignation, the still more fatal thoughtlessness of 
those, who, while they train the body, and discipline the mind, 
leave the immortal spirit destitute of that moral culture, with- 
out which bodily vigor is pernicious and learning a curse. 
But I forbear. Leaving these interesting and momentous 
topics, to other and abler hands, I confine myself to the single 
branch of intellectual education. 

Here then, we maintain, that however proper it may be, in 
the diversity of human occupations, that a man should not 
waste his strength by vain attempts to pursue them all, but 
rather confine himself to whatever one may be best suited to 
his capacity, still this remark does not apply to that period of life 
which is devoted to education. Then the great aim should 
be, not to replenish, but to enlarge the capacity; — not to pre- 
pare the student for any particular vocation, but to impart to 
him that mental vigor, by which he shall be qualified for any 
station to which subsequent events may lead. 

It is true, that, in such a course, there must be much posi- 
tive information acquired, and the student will be more or less 
fitted for particular offices; but still these are not the objects, 
but only the accompanying results: and so soon as any one of 
them loses this its appropriate secondary character, and as- 
sumes that of a principal, we have at once an education partial 
in its nature, £ind distorting in its eflects. For, as he only is a 
perfect model of the human frame, who exhibits every mem- 
ber in symmetrical proportion; as he only is a perfect moralist, 
who combines in his character every virtue; so, he only is a 
perfect scholar, who has united in himself, and cultivated to 
their highest extent, all the attributes of mind. 

The advantages, for every pursuit in life, of such an education, 
or as near an approximation to it as circumstances will admit, 
need but be stated to be acknowledged. Why is it that, upon 
the occurrence of those changes which are so frequent in our 
day, whereby the current of public business, without being 
diminished, is turned into new channels, — why is it that there 
is such an amount of private suffering? Is it not because the 
unhappy subjects of it have received a sort of mechanical edu- 



cation, which fitted them for nothing but the routine of the 
particular business in which they had been engaged? Who 
is the physician upon whom you would rely in the hour of dan- 
ger? Is it he who has merely stored his mind with the theo- 
ries of others, and learned by heart the symptoms and treatment 
of every disease in the books? or is it he, who, by more pro- 
found investigation, and more intense study, than such plodding 
ever required, has attained so intimate a knowledge of the hu- 
man constitution, that nature seems to have revealed to him, as to 
her favored priest, the mysteries of life and health. Who is the 
advocate to whom you would intrust the defence of your dearest 
rights? Is it he who, though familar with the forms of every ac- 
tion, and the decisions of every case, is lost when out of the beaten 
track of precedent? or is it he who has penetrated to the foun- 
dations of the law, and, from its profound depths, has brought 
forth principles whose application is as certain, as the basis 
upon which they rest is unchanging. 

But, it may be asked, what are the studies best calculated to 
aflbrd this development and discipline of the faculties? Of the 
various branches, each has in turn had its advocates, who have 
urged its claims, if not to exclusive, at least to pre-eminent atten- 
tion. For one, I am as much opposed to 'catholicons and pana- 
ceas' in literature, as in medicine; and I would as soon believe 
that all the diseases of the body can be healed by a single 
remedy, as that all the faculties of the mind can be trained by 
a single study. As then all the kingdoms of nature are made 
to furnish their contributions for the preservation of health and 
the protraction of life, so let every department of science lend 
its aid to the formation and perfection of the mental character. 

We are not here then to balance the respective claims of 
the ancient or of the modern languages, of the natural or of 
the exact sciences, — to depreciate the one or to extol the other; 
—but, to assert the importance of each in its appropriate place. 

When it is considered, however, that of these, the study of 
the ancient languages has of late been an especial object of at- 
tack, it may not be thought improper on this occasion to make 
a short digression, m order to test its value, by the principles 



8 

which have been advanced. Before we do so, however, it bS' 
comes us to remove an objection of a different character, which 
has been urged against this study, and which, if it be estab- 
hshed, is of itself sufficient to condemn it: — we mean that which 
relates to the moral influence of the classics. We do not deny that 
there is much in the writings of pagan antiquity that is false 
in principle , and corrupt in morality, and which, if unguarded- 
ly imbibed, can hardly fail to vitiate the youthful mind; but if, 
as should always be the case, judicious selections be made, 
and if whatever that is offensive even in these, be made the 
subject of appropriate comment, we conceive that the effect, 
so far from being injurious, will be highly salutary. When 
does the worship of the only true God appear more ra- 
tional than when compared with the absurdities of heathen 
mythology? When do His character and attributes appear more 
glorious, than when He is contrasted with the contentious and 
libidinous deities of Greece and Rome? Who can contem- 
plate with such profound admiration, the pure principles and 
the glorious hopes of Christianity, as the classical scholar? 
The humblest and most ignorant follower of the Cross, indeed, 
may look forward, with joyful confidence, to a blissful existence 
beyond the grave; but it is for him who has heard a Cicero, when 
contemplating that future state, exclaim, as if in anxious doubt, 
"if I err, it is a pleasing error," — it is for such a one to appre- 
ciate the assertion that "life and immortality have been brought to 
light through the gospel." — All can admire the mild and peaceable 
spirit inculcated by Christianity; but it is for him who has seen 
inscribed on the schools of ancient philosophy, and has heard 
from the lips of its greatest masters, that 'revenge for an injury 
is as great a virtue as gratitude for a favor,' — it is for him to feel, 
with full force, that the religion which teaches us to love our 
enemies, is not the cunningly devised scheme of a carpenter's 
son, nor the invention of ignorant fishermen, but that, like its 
author, it emanated from the bosom of God. 

Supposing then the objection to the moral tendency of classi- 
cal learning to be removed, we come to what at present more 
immediately concerns us, — the consideration of the propriety 



of substituting for it other studies, which, as is alleged, are more 
interesting in their character, and of greater practical utility. 

That this study is in itself uninteresting, we cannot admit: that 
the modes of pursuing it may be so, we cannot deny. But 
when it is entered upon with due preparation, and prosecuted 
with proper guides, it is a path strewed with flowers, and which 
becomes more and more pleasing at each succeeding step; and if 
occasionally obstacles present themselves to the student, they 
do but afford him a faint representation of the course of his 
subsequent life, for which he will be ill qualified if he has not 
previously undergone that mental discipline by which he is 
taught to grapple with difficulties, and even to delight in the 
encounter. 

But it is urged again that this is not a study of practical 
utility. The answer to this objection will depend upon the 
meaning attached to that expression. If by 'studies of practi- 
cal utility' be meant those only which have an immediate bear- 
ing upon a man's business in life, we ask, what branches of lib- 
eral learning can be considered as answering that description? 
Why should the mass of the community be acquainted with the 
history of other days, or the manners and customs of other 
nations? What need have they of mathematics beyond the 
elementary rules of arithmetic? Why should they explore the 
external world to discover its constitution and laws, or turn 
their observation inward, upon the more mysterious operations 
of their own minds? What matters it to them to know wheth- 
er the canopy above is filled with immense suns, the sources 
of light and heat to other systems, or is merely lighted up by 
innumerable tapers? Whether the meteors which occasionally 
flash through our atmosphere with a momentary splendor, are the 
fragments of some shattered planet, or the *snuffings of the can- 
dles of heaven?' The starry host will perform their accustomed 
round, the fruitful showers will continue to descend, and the 
earth to bring forth her increase, the generations of men will 
come and go, — all the operations of nature will take place with 
their wonted regularity, alike whether man be informed or un- 
informed of their laws. It is true that such knowledge may 



10 

render them much more subservient to our purposes; but if this 
be the only object, it needs but a few to accomplish it. The en- 
gineer can lay out our rail-roads and canals; the mechanician can 
invent and construct our machines; the astronomer can calcu- 
late our almanacs, and nautical tables; the chemist can explore 
the elements of nature and combine them for the use of the ar- 
tist. So that, for all the purposes of practical utility, in this 
low and contracted view of it, learning need never have 
emerged from the retirement of the study. But if by 'studies 
of practical utility' be meant those which tend to make happier 
men and better citizens, which add to private enjoyment, to per- 
sonal influence and respectability, then we say let all the treas- 
ures of literature and science be brought within the reach of 
all; — let history and geography be studied, to enlarge and lib- 
eralize their views; — mathematics, to teach the art of de- 
monstrative reasoning; — the physical sciences to develop the 
philosophy of experiment and induction; — the ancient languages, 
to cultivate the taste, to exercise the judgment, to strengthen the 
the memory, and to furnish an unfailing source of elegant and 
rational enjoyment. They all, as before remarked, have their 
appropriate offices and advantages. The very fact that some of 
them are better adapted to particular individuals than others, 
sufficiently proves that they call into exercise different faculties, 
and that therefore the course of instruction which does not 
combine them all, cannot impart a complete education. 

Nor should the number and variety of these studies be made 
an objection to their all receiving a share of attention. The 
cultivation of one does not interfere with that of another. I 
appeal to the experience of every teacher, whether the diminu- 
tion of the number of a pupil's studies, provided they have been 
adapted to his years and capacity, promotes, in any degree, his 
proficiency in the remainder; or whether it be not true, that a 
diminution of exercise is often followed by a diminution of 
strength. The best linguist in a class, may not always be the 
best mathematician; but he is not the worse mathematician for 
being a good linguist: on the contrary, the union of the two 
studies is much more likely to promote success in each. For 



11 

as the strengthening of any one member of the body imparts a 
vigor to the whole system, so the exercise of the mind upon 
one subject does but quahfy it for more efficient application to 
another. 

As the knowledge of any one branch is not increased, so 
neither is the time of acquiring it diminished by the omission 
of other branches. It does not follow, because a certain num- 
ber of studies can be comprehended in a given number of years, 
that, therefore, any one of them will take a proportionally less 
time. During the period that is devoted to education, the 
youthful mind is in a course of gradual development, to which 
the different studies, and the different stages of each study, must 
be accommodated; and until the faculties have attained a cor- 
responding growth, it is as incompetent to grasp the higher por- 
tions of any one study, as of all. The truth of this remark 
may be illustrated by the analogy of nature, in her operations 
in the material world. A productive soil may, at the same 
time, bring forth a variety of fruits; but by no diminution of the 
number, and by no improvement in the system of culture, can 
any one of them be ripened to its just maturity, until the ap- 
propriate season has rolled round. 

If then it be true, that a close attention to all the branches 
of a liberal education is the best means of securing high attain- 
ments in each, or at any rate, what is more important, of pro- 
moting the vigor and energy of the mind, why should any of 
them be neglected by those who have an opportunity to prose- 
cute them? Surely not to indulge the indolence of the student, 
nor to gratify the whims of mere theorists in education. 

But it may be objected, by some shrewd calculators, that, if 
the youth be not destined for professional life, such a full course 
of study or, indeed, the thorough prosecution of any portion of it, 
will prolong the period of pupilage beyond the time at which he 
would be fitted for business. It cannot be denied that, in the 
present prosperous state of our country, most young men could 
obtain a support prior to the age usually allotted to the termina- 
tion of a college course. But let it be recollected that the race 
is not to him that starts first, but to him that comes to it 
invigorated and disciplined by previous training; — that though 



12 

the well educated youth may be delayed in his entry into busi- 
ness, yet he will eventually commence it with a larger and 
more available capital. 

But did there exist any such pecuniary disadvantages in this 
delay, as are represented, still the moral benefit would more 
than counterbalance them. When a young man is sent into the 
world with just enough of learning to make him flippant and 
conceited, with judgment immature, and principles unformed, 
it cannot be expected that he should be prepared to resist those 
temptations with which places of business are always beset. It 
is this, accordingly, which has filled the gaming table, and 
thronged the theatre, — which has brought disgrace upon many 
a son, and anguish upon many a family. When a ship is 
launched upon the deep, the prudent mariner is careful to pro- 
vide whatever may contribute to her safety; but our youth are 
sent forth upon the voyage of life, with swelling sails, it may 
be, but often without ballast, or compass, or helm, amid rocks 
and whirlpools more dangerous than Scylla and Charybdis, to 
encounter storms more terrible than ever opposed the wanderer 
of Ithaca. What wonder, then, that so many of them meet 
with shipwreck and death. 

But it is useless to attack all the Protean forms which the 
objections to a liberal education have assumed. We conceive 
that they have all been answered, if the position has been es- 
tablished, that the grand business of intellectual education is 
to train the faculties of the mind, and that this training is 
best effected by a union of all the branches of literature and 
science, which are adapted to the comprehension of youth. 

If this view of the subject be correct, then female education 
has been sadly misunderstood. What though, in woman, the 
brightest endowments of genius, and the greatest acquisitions 
of learning must, for the most part, shine unseen; yet, does the 
companion and partner of man, the mother and nurse of the 
future hopes of the state, the church, and the world, need no 
expansion and discipline of mind? Away then with the mean 
and contracted notion, that the merest rudiments of education 



13 

will answer for a female; that she needs no geography but that of 
her own house, no arithmetic but that of domestic expenses, no 
art but the culinary, no science but that of economy. The sen- 
timent, that female ignorance is the mother of domestic bliss, 
originated with that kindred sentiment, that ignorance is the 
mother of devotion, and should with it have long ago been con- 
signed to its primitive darkness. Let it no longer be coun- 
tenanced in this enlightened age, but let us afford to woman an 
education that shall enable her to claim with justice, and to main- 
tain with dignity, that station in society, which is now too often 
held by the slender tenure of courtesy. 

If the view which we have taken of education, be cor- 
rect, then let parents not select for their children an oc- 
cupation in life, perhaps before they can lisp its name, and 
educate them with exclusive reference to this. Until their 
faculties are developed, it cannot be known for what station 
they may be qualified. He whose genius you would cramp by 
some inferior employment, may be destined to enlighten the 
world. Give him, then, the best education within your power; 
and though he should fulfil no such high expectations; though 
upon the termination of his course of instruction, he should 
close his books of science and literature forever; nay, though 
it were possible that every vestige of positive information 
which he had derived from them, could be obliterated from 
his memory, still his time and his labor will not have been 
spent for nought. Where are the products of your own child- 
ish sports and boyish exercises? They have vanished with the 
hour that gave them birth; but the graceful form, the manly 
vigor, and the robust health, which they imparted, still remain 
as substantial proofs of their utility. 

If the view which we have taken of education be correct, 
then, young gentlemen, neither is it for you, at this early period, 
to be forming projects for your subsequent career, and in conse- 
quence to neglect whatever, in your opinion, will not further 
them; for be assured, that as you know not what may be your 
future course, so, whatever it may be, no portion of knowledge 
which you may acquire will ever be found useless. Nor must 



14 

you suppose that such an education can be obtained by a bare at- 
tendance within the walls of a seminary, however judicious may 
be the course of instruction, or however competent the precep- 
tors. It has been well said by an eminent writer, that "there 
is nothing more absurd than the common notion of instruction, 
as if science were to be poured into the mind like water into 
a cistern, that passively waits to receive all that comes. The 
growth of knowledge, rather resembles that of fruit; however 
external causes may in some degree co-operate, it is the inter- 
nal vigor and virtue of the tree that must ripen the juices to 
their just maturity." Your parents, therefore, may afford you 
every facility with the most lavish kindness; your teachers may 
labor in your instruction with the most unwearied assiduity, but 
all will be of little avail, unless there be superadded the hearty 
co-operation of your own vigorous exertions. In this sense 
you must all be self-educated. Go on, then, as I am happy to 
know that many of you have already begun, go on, and imi- 
tate the example of the diminutive but instructive model of in- 
dustry: — the bitterest herb, as well as the most fragrant flower, 
will alike yield honey to your toil. Go on, and in the mock 
combats of the gymnasium, prepare yourselves for the din, the 
dust, the keen encounter of that war of real life, in which the 
excellence of the weapons, and the skill of the combatants, 
must decide the victory. 



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